"Turn Off the Oven, We Have a Monarch!"

After a busy week, including on the butterfly front, Sunday was to be a rest day. It was brunchtime, and the bacon was bakin'. Rick had checked the garden once before and found the usual skippers, one in a tree. Finding himself in downstairs, he took the garden tour on the way back, and saw what he thought was a Fritillary sailing over the garden, landing on the zinnias. He came around, did a doubletake, and was soon sprinting up to the kitchen.  He knew that he and Stephanie would be out there a while.

Especially so when the Monarch turned out to be female!  And was laying eggs on the Milkweed!

She was gorgeous, deeply colored with vivid white and black markings, only a couple tiny tears in her wings.  She stayed in the garden for at least two hours, much of it meandering gently through the milkweed, barely landing, drifting effortlessly through the tangle of stalks and leaves and making quick landings. We stayed out of the garden itself, leaving it to her, not wanting to disturb. We often found ourselves having to photograph her as she glided elegantly, as her stops were too deep in among the leave and too quick to capture.  

A few times, she stopped to feed. Once, she rested in the nearby tree, another time on the Joe Pye Weed. She liked Zinnias especially, but also marigold and butterfly bush. 

On top of her visit, it was an incredibly busy day. Silver-Spotted Skippers were abundant, with sometimes three on a single butterfly bush flower. Two unique arrivals for the year came one after the other, but we were so busy we failed to get any pictures of the Yellow Sulphur, and only a Bigfoot-style shot of the Zebra Swallowtail as it exited after a brief drive-through snack. 

After an afternoon rain, the rich day continued. Atop the 8 foot tall Joe Pye, we were delighted to have one of the smallest butterflies, the Summer Azure, as well as the magnificent Tiger Swallowtail, step onto that perch for a photo. 

Our little orange butterflies, the Pearl Crescent and the Silvery Checkerspot, were there as well. The Checkerspot is a master of picking photo locations. And we had always read that we should put out some old fruit, but never had. Five minutes after we put out the banana, we had a customer, the Pearl Crescent. 

It was such a big day, the hummingbirds couldn't get any attention. Stephanie said with a tired smile, "When you build this garden, you dream of having the female Monarch come. And now she has."
Indeed!